Dennis Fox’s Weblog

During my October-December Israel/Palestine trip and for the period before and since, I’ve increasingly focused on the connection between Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza and its treatment of its own Arab citizens. I’ve criticized Jimmy Carter for ignoring this connection, and have speculated about the cognitive self-deception required to believe that Israeli can be both Jewish and democratic.

Yesterday, on my flight home from Florida, I read the introductory chapter of Jonathan Cook’s recent book Blood and Religion: The Unmasking of the Jewish and Democratic State, which I bought just before heading south a week earlier. I’m sorry I didn’t get to this sooner. The Nazareth-based British free-lance journalist makes a detailed case for many of the points I’ve been talking about more generally. I now see his website provides access to many of his articles.

The evening before my flight home I talked to a small group at the University of Miami about my recent trip, trying to tie together a variety of strands — my presentations at Ben Gurion and Birzeit Universities, my travels around Israel and the West Bank, and my impressions of a variety of projects I encountered related to this fundamental split between democratic values and Jewish statehood. The discussion mirrored others I’ve had recently with people who eventually say that Israel’s inability to satisfy Western assumptions about democracy is less important than its survival as a Jewish state open to Jews escaping anti-Semitism. Some Israelis and supporters of Israel speak with regret and angst about the effect of Jewish need on innocent Palestinians; others are more belligerent, frankly pronouncing that what’s best for the Jews is the bottom line standard. Either tone is at least more honest than trying to maintain the democratic facade.

Before I got to Cook’s book on my way back to Boston I went through the New York Times, which had four letters responding to an article earlier in the week titled Noted Arab Citizens Call on Israel to Shed Jewish Identity. The article described a December call for Israel to become a fully democratic state. I remember when this document was released the response in Israel was immediate and nasty, with Arab citizens accused of being traitors and enemies. As one letter writer wrote in yesterday’s Times, 

This recommendation, issued as part of a report issued under the auspices of the Committee of Arab Mayors in Israel, should finally spur Israel to accept fully and with no hesitancy its status as a Jewish state. If this were a utopian world with universal peace and no anti-Semitism, there indeed could be no need for a Jewish state. But history has taught us differently. Israel should proclaim what it is along with the inevitable consequences. It cannot be a pure democracy, but it certainly can be more democratic than most other countries.

Its flag and anthem are symbolic of the country, and just as American citizens do in the United States, every citizen of Israel of any religious belief or ethnicity should offer a pledge of allegiance to Israel, the Jewish state.

Cook’s book and website offer many details, plus a framework for understanding many seemingly disconnected events and trends. Some supporters of Israeli policy will dismiss what he has to say as biased and insist Israel’s democracy is in fine shape. Others, more honestly, will acknowledge his facts but resist the implications for democratic policymaking. Still others will shrug their shoulders and say democracy is dispensable. That stance at least has the virtue of bringing out into the open the barriers facing those seeking to advance democracy, equality, and justice for all.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 10th, 2007 at 5:53 pm and is filed under Israel/Palestine, Law/Justice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.